Current projects

The project is concerned with future-proof, automated solutions in the field of liquid cargo handling in German inland ports, an area of the inland shipping industry that is currently characterized by manual, physically demanding and error-prone work. Together with the joint partners from Garant Mineralölhandelsgesellschaft mbH, Deymann Tankrode Logistics GmbH, Hafen Hamburg Marketing e. V., Mercatronics GmbH and the Chair of General Psychology and the Chair of Mechatronics at the University of Duisburg-Essen, a partially automated cobot and a fully automated robot will be developed in the project. The use of a cobot promises increased process reliability, the best possible occupational safety and improved ergonomic aspects, while the robot will present the possibilities for automating the loading process. The collaborative partners are also supported by associated partners, the Bundesverband der Deutschen Binnenschifffahrt e. V. (BDB) and the Unabhängiger Tanklagerverband e. V. (UTV)

The use of motorized private transport (MIV) is steadily increasing. This increases traffic congestion, creating traffic jams and requiring further infrastructure development. At the same time, noise and exhaust emissions are increasing, so that the quality of life is declining. To counteract this and achieve the climate targets of the German government, it is necessary to strengthen public transport so that private transport can be reduced or, as a first step, does not increase further. However, this expansion requires high investment costs in infrastructure (e.g. subway line in Düsseldorf Wehrhahn) as well as high operating costs. Therefore, the question arises, how and where can the public transport offer be expanded according to demand in such a way that the additional costs can be covered by customer growth and economic gains?  

To the best of our knowledge, no study has been conducted to date that has simulated and determined the optimal public transit service in areas of lower demand based on surveys of mobility behavior and the determination of multimodal travel resistances. Furthermore, there is currently no tool available that public transport operators can use to perform optimal planning in the municipality.  

Only in recent years it has become possible to answer this question in acceptable processing and computing time due to open databases and increased computing capacities.  

The planned study follows the following approach to achieve the objectives:

1) Develop a new methodology for determining municipal and regional mobility user needs in terms of multimodal source-destination time relations (mmQZZ).

2) Application of the methodology while collecting and processing mobility data from sources that already exist in municipalities or can be collected in a low-threshold manner using the developed tools.

3) Use of the data to create a realistic, multimodal and networked traffic simulation as a basis for the subsequent study.   

4) Study of the potentials a) of a stronger networking of different existing means of transport using the existing infrastructure (e.g. "waiting for connection" in the case of short delays), b) of the inclusion of new forms of operation in public transport (e.g. automated minibuses) as well as c) by optimizing a hybrid on-demand transport especially for structurally weak or poorly connected (in the sense of public transport) regions.

see the project homepage for further information

Guidelines for the functional use of digital media by children and adolescents are increasingly demanded by parents, teachers, and politicians. However, in order to make scientifically sound recommendations for guidelines, there is a need for a better understanding of the psychological mechanisms that contribute to the functional use of digital media. The aim is to make full use of the opportunities and possibilities offered by digital media and not to protect against the risks of dysfunctional and addictive use of digital offerings exclusively through preventive offerings. This is where the proposed "RuhrNetwork for Functional Digital Media-Use in Children and Adolescents" comes in, which is intended to provide a structural framework for interdisciplinary and cross-location research into psychological mechanisms of functional digital media use and the development of empirically tested measures to promote this. By applying for third-party funding and collaborating with national and international researchers, including FOR 2974, the RuhrNetwork aims to contribute to long-term research on functional digital media use and to a holistic understanding of children's and adolescents' media use.

see the project homepage for further information